Has anyone had PV solar panels installed?

[missjemima]

I've just started looking into this today and trying to get my head around the process... I know we want PV to generate electric and not to just heat water. Is there anything I should be thinking about? Anything you wished you had considered beforehand? Is it likely I will need planning permission? I'll probably be building a new freestanding garage to put them on - any advice gratefully received! TIA

We have done this ourselves, including building a new freestanding carport to support them.

Why are you having them? Do you have mains power? Are you going to sell to the grid or have your own batteries?

We're planning to sell back to the grid, with the main reason being to reduce our bills and be more self sufficient. We're lucky in that the cost of the panels will be covered (up to 7k) whilst we'll cover cost of garage... How are you finding it? Are you glad you did it?

Love it. The FIT payments we're getting back are almost covering what we spend on electricity and gas through the year. However, if we used the revenue purely as a payback of the original cost of the panels, at this rate it would pay back in 6-7 years. Should say we have an ideal south facing roof, and were able to get almost a 4kw system on it. And as we're at home during the day, there are times when we are using washing machine and tumble drier which are being run from what we generate, and still feeding back to the grid as well.

You shouldn't need planning permission unless you're in a conservation area, but check on your local authority website.

what did your cost, Fresh, and what FIT rate are you on?r

You don't need planning permission, even in a conservation area. There are a couple of provisos, less that 200mm protruding from the roof line, etc, etc. but provided it is a normal installation there is no problem.

Another thing to remember is that unless you have a very old electricity meter, you can only use the electricity you generate at the moment it is generated. If it's sunny and you're out, you get your generation payment, but the electricity is lost to the grid. For a larger system you may struggle to use more than 25-50% of what you generate in mid summer.

We had 4kW system fitted just before the first tariff change. As we (for now) have an old electricity meter we've used no electricity since then. We also have solar thermal and between them we have energy neutral since Feb.

I'm off grid, so never had the choice!

Without any batteries to worry about, I think it's probably great.